It is a well-known fact that in a very real sense every human being has two brains, what is termed in everyday speech as a right brain and a left brain, which are actually the right and left hemispheres of the human brain. For the vast majority of people, the left brain hemisphere is in charge of such things as mathematical and language skills while the right brain hemisphere is the creative and emotional center. The left hemisphere is the logic and reason center with defense mechanisms such as rationalization built around logic and reason. The right hemisphere, in contrast, is indiscriminate. Most researchers relate logic and conscious reasoning to the left hemisphere and emotional and subconscious processes to the right hemisphere.
It is thought that the left hemisphere is interested in literal correctness while the right hemisphere is more interested in overall associations and relationships. It is believed that the left hemisphere views language literally and according to the rules of language while the right brain views language spatially and emotionally, tumbling the words in a process called "subconscious cerebration" and even hearing the words as our eyes see the world . . . upside down.
It has been proposed to utilize the way the brain functions by sending the brain subliminal messages. These messages seem to appeal directly to the emotions, causing behavior to override reason. Subliminal messages can be sent either visually or audibly.
In the instance of audio subliminal delivery using audio tapes, a subliminal message can be defined as a verbal stimulus perceived below the threshold of the listener's awareness. Perception in this instance refers to the process of stimuli acknowledged or registered at some level below the threshold of awareness (consciousness). In order for perception by an individual to occur, there must be sufficient stimuli to trigger a neuron in the brain. This is to differentiate from the situation where the message is not only below the threshold of awareness but also is not even perceived, such as a whisper two blocks away from the listener.
In audio subliminal presentation, spoken words are injected beneath a primary carrier. A listener does not consciously hear the spoken words because they are concealed in "white" sound, such as the sound of wind or water, or they are concealed psychoaccoustically in or beneath music. Nevertheless, if appropriately done and the spoken words are not just substantially lowered in volume as compared to the volume of the primary carrier, the stimuli from the spoken words are registered by the listener.
For the sake of an analogy, imagine that the verbal subliminal stimulus rides beneath the waves of nature sounds and music in the same manner as a submarine rides beneath the waves that are on the surface of the ocean. The outer ear catches the sounds (both the surface waves and everything riding thereunder) as they enter the auditory canal. From the auditory canal, the waves are transmitted to the drum membrane, or middle ear, where air pressure and three small bones convey vibrations to the inner ear. Within the inner ear are cochlea, or coiled structures, with sensory cells that receive the sound stimuli and transmit to the brain impulses arising from the sound stimuli. The stimuli ultimately trigger neurons in the brain. Millions of neurons are carrying message units triggered by stimuli across the synapses in the brain and each of these messages is simultaneously competing for conscious attention.
Neurons do not have neutral states; they are either off or on. The threshold of awareness, or "perception level", that exists and is taking place below that threshold is in fact a neural excitation. Without neural excitation, there can be no perception. Research into brain wave activity has confirmed that an increase in pattern activity exists in test subjects who listened to music containing subliminal messages as compared to test subjects listening to the same music without subliminal messages.
The nuances of audio subliminal presentations are widely varied. One process involves "time-compressing" the verbal message by either speeding up the human voice to a high-pitched squeal or by digitally compressing the words, which involves removing the spacing between the sounds which results in one continuous noise.
Another method is known as "multifrequency statements" which involves taking separate messages and overlaying them on different frequencies, then playing all these multi-frequency messages at the same time. Often these multi-frequency messages are recorded at frequencies that an ordinary cassette player cannot reproduce. Audiologists believe such multifrequency messages are imperceptible to humans.
In contrast to these two exotic methods of subliminal message delivery, there are a number of popular and proven methods for delivering verbal subliminal stimuli. One is the concealing of straightforward statements. Another is known as back-masking or metacontrast. A third uses both simultaneously.
In the method of sending subliminal messages known as metacontrast or back-masking, the subliminal messages are recorded in reverse. When subliminal messages are sent to the brain in a reverse or played-backward mode, the subliminal messages appear to excite emotional expressions and responses often viewed as right brain hemisphere in their origin. It is suspected that "heavy metal" recordings have used this process to send satanic, drug or sexual messages to the brain of the listener.
Apparently, the first of the subliminal tracking mixers was developed by Professor Hal Becker of Tulane University in the 1970's. Becker's device, known simply as the "black box", was used to mix spoken words with Muzak. Becker's device was monaural and was tested in a supermarket in New Orleans during 1979. The black box mixed the words "Thou shall not steal" and "Honesty is the best policy" into the Muzak system broadcast throughout the store. This test reportedly achieved a substantial lowering of cash shortages, inventory damage and pilferage.
The electronic mixing of the music (the primary carrier) and the verbal message (the subliminal message) helps ensure a constant signal differential between the two. It is believed that the constant signal differential is critical to the effectiveness of the brain registering the subliminal process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of recording audio subliminal tapes that injects the subliminal verbiage beneath the primary carrier in a manner so that the subliminal verbiage is recoverable (i.e. the presence of the subliminal verbiage on the audio tape is verifiable by electronic means).
It is a feature of the present invention that the subliminal verbiage is injected onto an audio tape beneath the level of the primary carrier at a constant gain differential to ensure effective brain registration of the subliminal verbiage.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the subliminal verbiage injected beneath the primary carrier is effectively perceived by the brain and that the subliminal verbiage is recoverable.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus for recording recoverable subliminal verbiage beneath a primary carrier at a constant gain differential.
It is a further feature of the present invention that an apparatus is provided that injects subliminal verbiage beneath a primary carrier onto an audio tape combining both forward-masked and backward-masked (or metacontrast) verbiage, including full echo reverberation and round robin verbiage along with multiple voice characteristics.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the apparatus produces a subliminal audio tape recording having recoverable subliminal verbiage which is effectively perceived by the brain.